Radiology Partners has added six new practices to its roster in recent months while also hiring 340 physicians since early 2020 to support its site additions, officials said Monday.
Billing itself as the largest radiology practice in the U.S., the El Segundo, California, corporation’s newest partnerships cover its home state, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. A spokesman declined to name the new practices or disclose details of the transactions, but said they extend beyond Rad Partners’ recent blockbuster purchase of Mednax’s imaging business.
“RP’s continued growth throughout 2020 and into 2021 is a testament to our strong financial position, as well as our focus on local practice autonomy, physician leadership and physician ownership,” CEO Rich Whitney said in an April 5 announcement. “We are proud to partner with these leading practices that share our vision for extraordinary clinical value and service.”
The six new partnership deals closed in 2020’s fourth quarter through the end of March and included the unnamed “largest women’s imaging practice in the country.” In addition, RP also expanded significantly during a “record” 2020, launching 59 sites across its network of existing and new clients. Leaders said they continue to seek further partnerships beyond this week’s announcement
RadNet looks to refinance debt
Imaging center operator RadNet is seeking to refinance its debts in a bid to lower capital costs and add operating flexibility, the imaging center operator announced Tuesday.
The proposed transaction would include a $611 million loan and a $195 million revolving credit line that’s currently undrawn, the Los Angeles-based firm said. RadNet is seeking to replace the two financial instruments with a seven-year, $675 loan and a five-year revolving credit of the same amount, respectively.
If approved for the refinance, RadNet said it plans to pay off the $611 million in existing loans, along with other fees and expenses.
“We have publicly discussed in recent quarters the possibility of extending the maturity of our debt capital, lowering our cost of capital and provide the company further operating flexibility through refinancing our current senior secured debt,” “Mark Stolper, executive VP and chief financial officer, said April 6.
Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings noted Tuesday that the transaction will improve RadNet’s liquidity by increasing its access to capital and adding $50 million to its balance sheet.
Imaging centers combine under one brand
Midwest Radiology—which dubs itself as one of the nation’s largest independent imaging groups—is consolidating its centers under one brand name, leaders announced Tuesday.
Effective April 1, six imaging centers previously operating under the St. Paul Radiology and Suburban Radiologic Consultant brands will now fall under the Midwest name. The announcement comes two years after the two aforementioned groups merged their professional services organizations but continued using their previous names.
“This combination simplifies our organizational structure and allows us to more effectively focus on delivering the highest quality and most cost-effective outpatient imaging services to our communities and referring clinicians,” Midwest Radiology President and CEO Michael Madison, MD, said in a statement.
Altogether, the combined company operates 10 locati0ns across Minnesota’s Twin Cities region.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.